The daily herald. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1886-1887, 1887-05-02
MONDAY. MAY :, 1887.
THE LAND PROBLEM.


befoer the statesmen Of Great Britainas it
never was at any previous Period. In
the olden time when Tiny lord was
absolute in power and unquestioned in
authority, oppression might stalk un-
checked over the country. The only
recognized rights we're those Of the
landlord and all there was Of public
opinion was the private property Of the |
same functionary. In later times, how
ever, steam and electricity have brought |
the outlying portions Of the earth
nearly to the old centers of life and
activity. The established oligarchies
OF feudalism have been stripped OF
their exclusive prerogatives to think
and act for other people. Their de-
pendants have begun to make their
voices heard and they have even
reached the point of Impudence of
asserting that they, too, have some
rights, hence the.struggle now going on
chiefly in Ireland. Might does not
make right, and the wrongs Of centu-
ries are before the people in accumu-
lated freshness. Gladstone, the first
on Britain's long roll Of illuslrious
statesmen who bent his mighty intellect
to the redress Of Irelands grievances,
is, though out of Office, probably the
greatest Individual power in the Eng
nsn rarnament. rnrougn ms meas
ures, Irish affairs have come to a pass
that they must be attended to. No
putting Otto more convenient season
will avail. Something has to be done
to save the third Kingdom from an
archy if not from rebellion. AT the
head and front Of the difficulties with
which English statesmen are now beset,
the land question seems to stand,
though shorn of some Of its worst
features, in its essential primitive ugli-
ness. Landlords for centuries knew
their tenants only as necessary factors in
the system by which the proprietor
piled up or squandered wealth as fancy
might direct. The tenant was social
nonentity. The wheel of fate has
turned round, and it seems as but
just retribution that the tenant
holds in utter disregard the claims Of
the landlord. Peasant proprietorshir
in France and homestead proprietor
ship in America have produced social
conditions infinitely more satisfactory
than obtain in any of the three sections
of the British islands, and Ireland
seems to have walked up to demand
similar conditions for her people. Thai
England, Scotland and Wales are moi
similarly agitated is no assurance thai
there, too, there will not be similar
problems to solve in the near future
The trend Of public affairs in the British
Islands, for several years past, points
inevitably to the not distant time wher
great estates, comprising thousands o
acres of unimproved and practically
worthless areas, will be divided up, anC
holdings will become absolute to tn,
occupants. The land agitation is o
a kind that cannot wear itself out ex
cept in the rectifcation Of the errora il
which it originated, England for Eng
lishmen, Scotland for the Scots, Wale
for the Welsh, and Ireland for tn,
Irish seems destined to become facto
in British politics as potent as thu
Monroe doctrine in America. AnC
why should it not7 That the people
own the soil they cultivate must surel,
be more consistent with sound politica
economy than the system which leave
them in a position only one remov
above that of serfs
The land question on Hawaii ha
fallen into almost precisely the sam
lines as in Great Britain. Ownership
Of lands in fee simple is rare, an'
limited for the most part to old resi-